


Noir Is More Than Just A Pretty Aesthetic

by peppermint_latte



Category: L.A. Noire
Genre: Detectives, Gen, Genderqueer Character, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Investigations, Nonbinary Character, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some Spoilers Because Morgan Knows Things, Spoilers, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23597110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peppermint_latte/pseuds/peppermint_latte
Summary: Morgan never expected to see a single day of the past in their life, as new as it is, time travel tech is carefully controlled by the government, and very few cops ever make a case that gets approved for the use of time travel. And even those that do, only ever use to for information gathering. Paradoxes are no joke, and the agency does not take changing the course of history lightly. So Morgan never expected to be one of the few cops who time travel a few days into the past.So chasing a known member of an extremist group with fascist ideologies into the temporal chamber as they turn on the machine was really not something they ever could have seen coming. Their stomach flipped as they glanced at the display and saw that it was set for 1946.  Changing something close to a hundred years in the past could warp the future completely.With only a split second to decide, they moved past the barriers into the space just as it powered up and the world started to warp around them. They felt nauseous immediately and slammed their eyes shut. Behind closed eyes they prayed to anyone who was listening that this worked and that their aging wouldn’t simply accelerate until they and the suspect both died.
Relationships: Cole Phelps & Original Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	1. Introduce Yourself

**Author's Note:**

> Morgan, or Morgan Vance, is an OC of mine who I'm repurposing for this fic because time travel is their thing. They live in a slightly advanced technological world where a few years from now a form of time travel is discovered and promptly covered up by the goverment. Which goverment? It doesn't matter. All that matters is that the only people who are ever allowed to travel through time are goverment agents. Morgan works for the police and is high enough up the ladder to be aware of the time machine, but doesn't ever expect to actually use it. (That being said all agents who may potentially use it are trained on how to navigate the past and taught to read up on significant events and people of the past. Which is why Morgan knows who Cole is and exactly how his career ends.)
> 
> Morgan is nonbinary and uses primarily they/them pronouns but isn't completely uncomfortable with he/him. And since they have visibly masculine features they will try to pass as a man for the duration of their time in the past. (This is just to explain why third person POV will use they/them pronouns but people will refer to Morgan as man later on.)

Cole stares into the eyes of the soaking wet, strangely dressed individual. He’s pretty sure he just watched them appear in the stream out of thin air, flash of light and all. He’d stood there stock still while they crawled out of the stream and onto the bank.

He was answering a call about some kind of disturbance around here but all thoughts of investigating it have fled his mind.

“I need your help.” They say as soon as they drag themself out of the water.

“Where on earth did you come from?” He asks.

“Morgan, my name is Morgan. And you’re Cole Phelps, and I need your help.” They deflect.

“How do you know my name?” He asks, suddenly much more concerned about whoever this strange man is.

They give Cole a knowing smirk and eye his uniform.

“It’s a matter of public record. But that doesn’t matter, you’re the only man who can help me catch them before it’s too late.”

“Catch who.” He says, getting irritated. This stranger knows who he is, and is refusing to acknowledge the fact that they appeared out of thin air.

“The guy who appeared a minute before me. Did you not see him?” Their eyes narrow.

“No I arrived just in time to witness whatever it is that you did. But I did answer a call about a strangely dressed man acting erratically near this area.”

“Ah, so he showed up several minutes earlier then, odd. Doesn’t matter, I need your help to find him.” They say calmly, like this is a regular occurrence for them.

“That’s it, I don’t know what’s going on but you’re coming with me down to the station to answer some questions for the police.” Cole orders, trying to regain control of this crazy situation.

“I won’t speak to anyone else, either you help me, or I do this on my own. Fair warning though, I’m shit at detective work.”

“I can charge you with obstruction of justice and withholding information if you do. Just come down to the station and we can get this figured out.” Cole tries to reason with them.

Morgan stares at him for a long minute, frustration clear. Cole can see them thinking hard about something.

“I’m not afraid of jailtime. And I can’t talk to the police, he has an in with them, whatever I say he will know. I can only trust you.”

“Why trust me then? If this supposed dangerous individual has so much power and an inside man with the LAPD why even tell me at all?” Cole asks, disbelief written across his face.

“You don’t believe me, great. Look, you saw me appear, you know something strange is going on and I’m willing to explain it fully if you’ll just listen. I just need you to find somewhere discreet to talk….And I need to get out of these clothes, they don’t exactly fit in.” They look down at their soaking wet clothing, if those thin garments can even pass for clothes at all.

“Speaking of what you’re wearing, did you come off of some futuristic movie set? Where do you even get clothes like that? And what on earth was that light show?” Cole tried once again to get some kind of explanation out of them.

“I will tell you, once I’m out of them.” Morgan repeats, gesturing at the soaking wet nature of the clothes for emphasis.

“Fine, we’ll take you to get some clean clothes and then you’ll tell me why you’re so set on having me help you with this case.” He’s not sure why he believes them, but Cole trusts his instincts and they’re telling him Morgan isn’t lying. And he’s pretty sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.

He drives Morgan to a store where they quickly grab a set of clothes more appropriate for daywear and he pays for them begrudgingly. They change across the street in the bathroom of a bar. They cross the street and get back into the passenger’s seat of the patrol car.

“So, somewhere quiet would be good, this is going to be a long conversation.” Morgan tells him.

Cole’s patience is wearing thin, but he can tell that they’re almost ready to talk so he drives them to a secluded semi-abandoned rail station. He turns off the engine.

“Talk.” He turns to look at them.

They sigh and take a deep breath.

“The flash of light and be appearing out of nowhere was...it was because I time travelled.” Cole stares at them disbelievingly.

“Look I know how dumb that sounds, but you know what you saw and…I have proof.” They fish something out of their pockets, a small handheld device that’s flat.

At first Cole thinks it’s a notebook but it seems to be made of glass. They click something and the glass lights up. He nearly jumps at the flash but contains the reaction. The strange display reminds him of a motion picture or a television, but it’s much more vibrant, it has colours.

They fiddle with it and the colours move, strange icons and symbols appearing and disappearing. After a minute of his silent staring they turn off whatever it is and put it back in their pocket. It seems like pretty good proof that they are from another time. No technology like that exists today, not even close.

“That’s what a phone looks like where I’m from. They’re handheld and can be used anywhere, or pretty much anyway.”

“That’s a phone? It looks nothing like one, it was flat and had a display like a television.” Cole says incredulously.

“Ah, you’ve seen a TV then, that’s good. I was worried you’d have no frame of reference for screens at all. Anyway, technology moves at a faster and faster pace as time goes on. It’s around the 70’s to 80’s when they start to switch away from something that looks like what you use now.”

“The ‘70s’ you’re referring to are the 1970s?” He asks.

“Yeah, sorry for that. They’re in my past so we don’t bother with formality, but I should remember that they’re still your future.” Morgan replies.

“You come from more than 40 years in the future?”

“Yeah, getting closer to a hundred actually, I’m from the year 2027.” They tell him.

Cole takes a deep breath, turning away from Morgan.

“Sorry, I just need a minute.” He breathes deeply and tries to clear his head.

“It’s okay Detective, I get it.”

That snaps Cole out of his spiralling thoughts of existential dread.

“I’m not a Detective.” He says blankly.

“Ah, should have known I’d slip up.” They say a little sheepishly.

“What are you saying?” He asks, swallowing the last of his panic.

“I told you, your name is a matter of public record. The record of notable Detectives in L.A. history for their casework. You’re not one yet, but you will be.” They tell him simply, like they have no idea how much making detective means to him.

Because they don’t, he reminds himself.

“Should you really be telling me that?” He asks, a little worried about them risking changing his future. Or anyone else’s future for that matter. Morgan feels like a walking bomb, ready to explode and change the very course of history at any moment. He’s starting to see why a rogue third element is a very big problem.

“Glad to see you believe me now.” They say, eyes holding something slightly teasing about them.

“It’s hard not to with that device you call a phone. And you didn’t answer the question.” He replies.

“Probably not, but what’s done is done. And be honest, weren’t you hoping to get there one day anyway? All I’ve told you is that you’ll succeed, is that going to make you work any less hard to get there?” They ask him pointedly.

“I suppose not, but from what I know about paradoxes you should be careful what you say and to whom.” He tries to warn them.

“You don’t need to worry about that, I’ve had some training in how to avoid creating paradoxes. I’m more surprised science fiction is popular enough for you to know what a paradox is, if I’m being honest.” They say.

“I read.” He replies, tone flat.

“Right of course.” They say, tone of mock seriousness.

“Why don’t we get onto the part where you need my help catching someone from your own time, I’m presuming.” He reminds them.

“Yes, he’s from my time. He jumped into the temporal manipulator, aka the time machine. It warps time in a certain space and anything in that space is warped with it. I was able to essentially jump in and follow him back, unfortunately that didn’t give me the opportunity to learn much about who he specifically plans to kill. I know it’s to change the future for much, much worse. He’s part of an extremist group, they believe in absolute control of the public, worse than any country in your living memory. Whoever he’s going to kill, their death with start a chain of events that leads this country, and then the world, to ruin.”

“How did he or you get a hold of this tech? Can just anyone travel back in time?” Cole asks, a touch of panic in his voice.

“No! No. The temporal manipulator was at a _previously_ secure government location. I don’t know how he even found out where it was to be honest, or how it existed at all. The public isn’t aware of the existence of the machine. But that’s an investigation for me to worry about when I get back to my own time…” They trail off, eyes growing unfocused as they stare into the middle distance.

“Hey! Don’t disappear on me.” Cole snaps them out of whatever train of thought they’ve lost themself in.

“Right... sorry. Yeah, I’m sure the Bureau will figure out how to get me back to my own time.” They say, voice a little unsteady.

“What? Are you saying you don’t even have a way to get back?” Cole doesn’t think he can take anymore surprises, the stress is starting to get to him.

“Look, the use of time travel is very strictly controlled. Any case that calls for it has to be heavily reviewed first and almost none of them actually make it through, and those that do only get clearance to go back a few days, a week _maybe_. They just wait out the time in the past.” Morgan tries to justify. As if a lack of exit strategy for time travel is justifiable.

“Jesus. Shit, you’ve travelled from 80 years in the future and brought a dangerous individual with you who’s going to try to change the course of history through murder, and you don’t even have a way back!” Cole all but shouts.

Morgan flinches slightly, and as soon as Cole sees it he takes a deep breath and tries to relax. Shouting at them won’t help and making them distrust him might drive them away. And as terrible as everything he’s hearing is, Cole doesn’t want them to try and solve this on their own. If he’s involved as a member of the police department, he can at least feel like maybe everything he knows about the universe hasn’t turned on its head in just one day.

“If worse comes to worse we’ll just shoot him and dispose thoroughly of the body. It might come to that _anyway_.” They say.

“And what about you?” He asks them.

They slump into the seat, avoiding his gaze.

“I don’t know. I mean I know what my training tells me I should do.” They say, voice a little quiet.

They seem to be clamping up. But Cole needs to know, so he presses.

“And what would that be?”

Their shoulders come up and they shoot him a venomous glare.

“Once the mission is complete, I should kill myself in such a manner that my body is completely obliterated. In this case I’d probably shoot myself and have you dissolve my remains in acid, if it isn’t too much to ask.” They practically hiss the last words in his face.

Cole pulls away from them a little, hands coming up. But they just turn away from him and stare out the window. He feels like an asshole, actually he doesn’t just feel like one, he knows he is one.

“I’m sorry. It won’t come to that; we’ll figure something out. Like you said, the people in your time will figure out how to bring you back.” He tries to comfort them. Knowing you might have to sacrifice yourself for the cause is no easy burden to bare, Cole knows that as well as any soldier.

The tension bleeds from their frame but they don’t turn to look at him.

“I don’t know that,” They sigh and turn to look at him, “But I have to hold out hope that they will. In the mean time we have a guy to catch.”


	2. Introspection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we're getting into real spoiler territory. So fair warning for stuff that happens at the end of the game.

“So tell me about this training of yours, what do they teach you about how to navigate the past?” Phelps asks as they drive. He’s heading to the nearest station to see if he can get a lead on where the guy may have gone. It’s on the later side now, the sun set while the two of them spoke earlier. And Morgan has to wonder where they’re going to sleep tonight.

“Why are you so interested?” Morgan asks instead, best to leave the sleeping arrangements to later.

“I’m wondering what they could possibly be teaching you if within your first hour you’re already spilling important details about someone’s future to them.” Cole replies.

“You’re still on that? I told you, there are things that matter and things that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, assuming you take all this to the grave.” They glance at Cole; he simply watches the road impassively.

“Telling you you’ll make detective eventually matters about as much as me telling you that I travelled in time, it’s not ideal, but the effect is minimal, if existent at all. Assuming I reveal information to the right person only, in this case you. I picked you for a reason Cole, you’re not the kind of guy to try and use this for personal gain later on. There are plenty of folks with more resources than you in this city right now, but who are a whole lot less trustworthy.” Morgan tells him honestly, he’s not their only option, but is one of the better ones.

“Thanks, and here I thought you picked me because I was the first person you saw after crawling out of that river.” Cole snarks.

“No, I recognised you immediately and made a choice. I could have just run.” They shrug.

“Give me an example of something that does matter.” Cole says after a long moment.

“There are murders and all manner of crimes happening out there right now that I know about and could stop or arrange to have stopped.” They sigh.

“But if they’ve already happened you can’t stop them, right?” He sounds less than impressed.

“Right. For me they’re history, I can’t change my own history without dire consequences. I could cease to exist, or the event could rewind itself and happen again, or both. Or worst of all, I could succeed and change the future in untold ways. A life, even one, someone insignificant to the world at large, has a big ripple effect over that kind of timescale.”

“You said the most anyone’s gone back before is a week?” Cole glances at them as he waits for the light to turn green.

“Yeah, the Bureau would never sign off on anything longer, too much risk of an agent falling to temptation and doing something absurdly stupid.” Morgan tries not to think about just what those temptations are. The less they think about the world out there, the less likely they are to make their own mistake.

“Then why are you so prepared for this scenario? If they never planned to send anyone this far back why train you for it at all?”

“Maybe they do things different here I don’t know, but they prepare for anything in my time, even things that won’t ever happen. And to be fair, this should never have happened, but time travel is unpredictable, so it did, and here I am prepared for it.”

“Fair enough.”

Cole asks nothing else through the drive, leaving Morgan to their thoughts.

~

Déjà vu.

Morgan has talked to folks who’ve travelled through time. They all say that if feels like the worst déjà vu in their life. That there’s an unrealness to it. Morgan can’t relate. This doesn’t feel anything like déjà vu. It feels like being a ghost in a world that can’t see you. Or like a different world entirely.

Morgan feels like they’re doing some kind of balancing act, stuck between ignoring the world around them for fear that they might try to break the laws of time and needing to be present enough to be aware of the danger of their situation. Cole is all they can focus on. He’s real, and right in front of them, but in no immediate danger. They don’t need to be worried about accidentally saving his life on this case and creating a paradox.

But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t come with his own set of temptations. The year is 1946. Cole has a little more than a year to live. And every time Morgan thinks about it, it makes something in their chest twist painfully.

They take a deep breath and remind themself of the consequences of saving a person’s life this far back. Of saving someone with the influence Cole will have. His death is inevitable. He’s already dead. Morgan is just lucky enough to get to meet him for a short time.

“I had a buddy of mine at the station look for references to your guy. He’s been sighted near a clothing store that’s just reported a robbery.” Cole’s voice cuts through their thoughts as he opens the car door and gets in.

“What’s you stake in this officially? What do the department think you’re doing?” Morgan asks as Cole starts the engine. God, cars in this time period were _loud_. At least the noise shakes the last of their morbid train of thought from their mind.

“I didn’t lie about what I’m doing, I’m answering the call on the store and taking their statement. And I asked someone to get me leads on the man from the park who I suspected might be unstable.” He replies.

“Smart. I’d hate for the police thinking you’re some rogue element. I’d like to follow you in when you take the statement if that’s alright, I’ll keep out of the way.”

“Sure, as long as you don’t draw too much attention to yourself.” He says.

“Thanks.”

The rest of the drive is silent, except for the sounds of the city as you drive through it. Morgan turns the radio on part way through to distract themself when they remember how dangerous cars were in the 40s, and how likely deaths were in crashes. It’s irrational of course, because Phelps lives to see his 27th birthday. They shut down that line of thinking there and try to focus on the music. Thankfully they have no accidents on the way to the store, but Morgan still can’t get out of the car fast enough once they arrive anyway.

“What, have a problem with my driving? Or do they not have cars where you’re from?” Cole jokes.

“You’re driving is fine, and we do. It’s….never mind you wouldn’t understand.” They shake their head.

Watching Cole conduct his interview is interesting. The way police procedure works is a whole lot simpler, much less red tape. But on the other hand, they have a frightening amount of power. Working for the agency is a little different, though the FBI is a little more advanced than the police are.

Cole gets the information he needs though. And now they know that their guy has a car. Morgan wonders how much time he had to plan this and exactly how much he knows about Los Angeles at this exact time. It’s worrying. Morgan’s done their homework, sure, but nobody can know everything there is to know about everywhere in the world at every point in history. If they were actually on mission, they would have been thoroughly briefed beforehand. As it stands, they have a lot less to work on then they’d like. Honestly, if they didn’t enjoy old detective stories so much as a kid they’d probably know _even less._

Cole makes a call to find out if a car matching the description the store clerk gave has been stolen. About 5 minutes in Morgan realises how long this is going to take and gets back in the car to wait. This kind of work sure is a lot less glamourous than it seems when ‘modern’ technology is so slow. Some 10 minutes later Cole gets into the driver seat of the car.

“The car was reported stolen by a Charles Nelson, I’m thinking we should wait until morning to question him, it’s getting late.”

Morgan wants to protest, knowing that they’re on the clock and that whatever is going to happen is going to happen _soon_ , but Cole continues.

“I’ll get you a hotel room, I know a decent place that doesn’t get too much attention.”

Morgan pauses for a long moment, before sighing.

“Fine, I suppose you’ll head home once we get there.”

Morgan notices Cole’s jaw flex.

“This case is too important for us to waste time; I can’t be driving all around the city just to sleep in my own bed.”

Morgan blinks, processing.

…A thought comes to them. Elsa. They stow the train of thought for later.

“You’re right. I don’t know who he plans to kill but we won’t have long. Our only advantage is that whoever it is will be important, so they’ll have some level of security that will take him a minute to navigate.”

“You seem dead set on the idea that he’s out to murder someone. Are you sure he couldn’t be planning something else?”

“I’ve read up on his group and their ideologies. He’ll be looking to take someone specific out, someone who’s death he thinks will push this country toward becoming a military state. He set the course for Los Angeles and not Washington, so that probably rules out President Truman. Who’s in LA that could be that important to the course of history?” Morgan wonders aloud.

“Someone in the film industry perhaps?” Morgan continues on, “Film certainly has a way of reaching a lot of people…Or maybe he’s looking to influence the film industry. That could be it. Who do you kill to do something like that?”

“I’ve got no idea.” Cole admits.

“Well…start listing out the big names then. It’s a place to start.”

Cole doesn’t glance over, but his face has a distinct long-suffering expression as he watches the road.

“Fine. The mayor is Fletcher Bowron, The DA is Donald Sandler, Chief of Police is William Worrell…”

They park round the back of the motel. It’s best not to make it obvious a policeman is staying here, and with someone else. That could raise all kinds of questions neither of them need.

Cole buys the room and the two of them head up.

“I got a double, I hope you don’t mind.” He says in the elevator.

“It’s better to stick close.” Morgan nods.

The two of them start getting ready to sleep, not much to say. Cole asks a question out of the blue, just as Morgan is drying their hair after a shower.

“Why did the drive bother you so much earlier? You looked ready to bolt the minute we got to the store.”

Morgan sighs and places the towel they were using down next to them.

“I told you we have cars in my time, but they’re a lot safer than the ones now. Most wrecks in this time period result in serious injury or even death, but most crashes were I’m from don’t.” _And most of the cars drive themselves anyway_ , Morgan thinks but doesn’t say.

“I’m not a reckless driver, you’ll be fine. And you won’t have to put up with it for long anyway.” Cole dismisses.

Morgan shakes their head.

“I told you, you wouldn’t understand. Never mind, I’m going to get some sleep. I imagine we’ll be up early tomorrow.” Morgan gets into one of the two beds falls asleep minutes later.


End file.
